This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 11-290131 filed on Oct. 12, 1999, Japanese Patent Application No. 11-299960 filed on Oct. 21, 1999, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-283918 filed on Sep. 19, 2000, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a function of sending output completion notices, a control method thereof, and a computer program product therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
As a conventional network printer system, a system which is disclosed in the official gazette of JP-A-11-194909 has been known.
This is a network printer system where multiple users share a printer by connecting the printer with multiple data processors (personal computers). In handling multiple successive print requests (print jobs) from the same data processor (the same user) in this system, the printer sends an output completion notice to the particular data processor (user) only once when the print output for all the print jobs is completed, thus avoiding the trouble of sending output completion notices successively and hence making user""s input operation at the data processor more efficient. However, this official gazette does not describe nor suggest anything about the printer having the so-called mail-bin feature, and no related technology for such a printer has been found so far.
Here, in this specification, an xe2x80x9coutput completion noticexe2x80x9d means a notice indicating that the output for a print job, which hereinafter includes both printing and paper discharging actions, is completed.
In recent years, in a printer equipped with a paper discharge unit which consists of multiple bins (places where printed matter is to be actually discharged), such an operating mode as to use the paper discharge unit as the so-called mail-bin has been implemented. Here, the use as mail-bin means, in general, the usage of assigning in advance each bin users who may use bins and making the use of each bin monopolized by the users whom each bin is assigned (mail-bin feature). In this case, when printing for a specific user is designated (mail-printing), the printer outputs only for the bin to which that user is assigned, so that each user sharing the printer can easily communicate with and make a report to specific users other than himself/herself by using the mail-bin feature.
In such a printer, it receives requests for the output to each bin not only from the users themselves whom each bin is assigned but also from other users, scanners, and facsimile machines on the network, so that the users whom each bin is assigned may often be unaware that there has been any outputs for themselves from other users and so on. Therefore, compared with printers without the mail-bin feature, the printer having the mail-bin feature has a higher need to prompt users to come and pick up printed matter by sending the output completion notices.
However, if the output completion notice were to be transmitted each time the output for a print job is completed, a stream of output completion notices, when multiple print jobs addressed to the same user exist, would be transmitted to the user. Accordingly, the stream of output completion notices would become cumbersome for the user and it would be inefficient to go for the printed matter each time an output completion notice is received, thus resulting in the reduction of the efficiency of user""s work on a personal computer. Moreover, the inconveniences mentioned above become severer in case of a printer with the mail-bin feature, since the frequency of receiving output completion notices is higher compared with the case of a printer without the mail-bin feature because of the existence of print jobs addressed to the user himself/herself from other users and so on. Therefore, in this case, most users would generally wish, even stronger than in the case of a printer without the mail-bin feature, to receive a single output completion notice at the time when the output for all the print jobs addressed to themselves has been completed, in order to avoid the above inconveniences and save themselves the trouble of going for the printed matter separately. The increase in the frequency of transmitting the output completion notice would also cause the increase of the network congestion.
Here, in this specification, the destination of a print job means the destination of an output result (printed matter) obtained by processing a print job, which is generally the user himself/herself who has sent the print job, but, when the mail-printing is specified, the user designated in the mail-printing becomes the destination of a print job.
Another advantage of the mail-bin feature is that the use of this feature can prevent printed matter to be concentrated in a single bin. In the system where multiple personal computers and a printer (especially of a kind with a single bin) are connected by a network so that multiple users share the printer, it often happens that the printed matter of other users has been discharged already in one bin when a user sends an output request (print job) to the printer and thus the user""s printed matter becomes buried in the other""s. When multiple users"" printed matter exists in a mixed state in one bin as mentioned above, there is a problem that it takes a little of time to take out user""s own printed matter from a pile of printed matter. Such a situation is apt to occur when a large volume of printed matter is handled or when users forget to pick up their own printed matter. The above mail-bin feature is also intended to solve such a problem.
However, in the printer having the mail-bin feature, it is rather rare, in practice, that one bin is used by only one user, and, in general, multiple users are assigned for each bin. Therefore, in this case, the problem mentioned above still occurs, in other words, there is a possibility that a large amount of printed matter for multiple users (including printed matter for themselves from themselves as well as printed matter for themselves from other users) may remain in one bin when the users forget to pick up their own printed matter.
An object of this invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having a mail-bin feature which can eliminate the transmission of unwanted output completion notices when it receives multiple print jobs addressed to the same user, a control method thereof, and a computer program product therefor.
Another object of this invention is, to provide an image forming apparatus which has a function of serving to prevent such a situation in the case where there is a possibility that printed matter addressed to multiple users exists in one bin in a mixed state, a control method thereof, and a computer program product therefor.
According to an aspect of the invention, an image forming apparatus comprises a receiving unit for receiving a print job, a storing unit for storing the received print job, multiple bins for receiving paper printed based on the stored print job, each of said multiple bins being assigned a specific user, a sending unit, after all of the paper printed based on the print job are discharged to a bin, for sending an output completion notice to a user corresponding to the bin to which the paper is discharged, and a control unit for inhibiting said sending unit from sending the output completion notice if, at the time when all of the paper printed based on the print job have been discharged to the bin, there exists in the storing unit an unprinted print job which designates as a destination the same user that the print job the output for which has been completed designates.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method for controlling an image forming apparatus having multiple bins for receiving paper printed based on a print job, each of the multiple bins being assigned a specific user, and the apparatus being capable, after all of the paper printed based on the print job are discharged to a bin, of sending an output completion notice to a user corresponding to the bin to which the paper is discharged, comprises the steps of receiving a print job, storing the received print job in a memory unit, and inhibiting the sending of the output completion notice if, at the time when all of the paper printed based on the print job have been discharged to the bin, there exists in the storing unit an unprinted print job which designates as a destination the same user that the print job the output for which has been completed designates.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a computer program product, in an image forming apparatus having multiple bins for receiving paper printed based on a print job, after all of the paper printed based on the print job are discharged to a bin, for sending an output completion notice to a user corresponding to the bin to which the paper is discharged, each of the multiple bins being assigned a specific user, executes the procedures of receiving a print job, storing the received print job in a memory unit, and inhibiting the sending of the output completion notice if, at the time when all of the paper printed based on the print job have been discharged to the bin, there exists in the storing unit an unprinted print job which designates as a destination the same user that the print job the output for which has been completed designates.
According to a further aspect of the invention, an image forming apparatus comprises a receiving unit for receiving a print job, a storing unit for storing the received print job, multiple bins for receiving paper printed based on the stored print job, each of said multiple bins being assigned a specific user, and a sending unit, after all of the paper printed based on the print job are discharged to a bin, for sending an output completion notice to a user corresponding to the bin to which the paper is discharged, wherein the sending unit sends a first output completion notice if, at the time when all of the paper printed based on the print job have been discharged to the bin, there exists in the storing unit an unprinted print job which designates as a destination the same user that the print job the output for which has been completed designates, and sends a second output completion notice if, at the time when all of the paper printed based on the print job have been discharged to the bin, there exists in the storing unit no unprinted print job which designates as a destination the same user that the print job the output for which has been completed designates.
According to a still further aspect of the invention, a method for controlling an image forming apparatus having multiple bins for receiving paper printed based on a print job, each of the multiple bins being assigned a specific user, and the apparatus being capable, after all of the paper printed based on the print job are discharged to a bin, of sending an output completion notice to a user corresponding to the bin to which the paper is discharged, comprises the steps of receiving a print job, storing the received print job in a memory unit, and sending a first output completion notice if, at the time when all of the paper printed based on the print job have been discharged to the bin, there exists in the storing unit an unprinted print job which designates as a destination the same user that the print job the output for which has been completed designates, and sending a second output completion notice if, at the time when all of the paper printed based on the print job have been discharged to the bin, there exists in the storing unit no unprinted print job which designates as a destination the same user that the print job the output for which has been completed designates.
According to a yet further aspect of the invention, an image forming apparatus comprises a receiving unit for receiving a print job, a bin for receiving paper printed based on the received print job, a detecting unit for detecting whether or not there is any paper in the bin, a deciding unit for deciding whether or not, when there is paper in the bin, the destination of the paper existing in, the bin is the same as the destination of the received print job, and a sending unit, if the destination of the paper existing in the bin is not the same as the destination of the received print job, for sending a warning to the destination of the paper existing in the bin.
According to a yet further aspect of the invention, a method for controlling an image forming apparatus having a bin for receiving paper printed based on a received print job, comprises the steps of receiving a print job, detecting whether or not there is any paper in the bin, deciding whether or not, when there is paper in the bin, the destination of the paper existing in the bin is the same as the destination of the received print job, and sending, if the destination of the paper existing in the bin is not the same as the destination of the received print job, a warning to the destination of the paper existing in the bin.
According to a yet further aspect of the invention, a computer program product for an image forming apparatus having a bin for receiving paper printed based on a received print job, executes the procedures of receiving a print job, detecting whether or not there is any paper in the bin, deciding whether or not, when there is paper in the bin, the destination of the paper existing in the bin is the same as the destination of the received print job, and sending, if the destination of the paper existing in the bin is not the same as the destination of the received print job, a warning to the destination of the paper existing in the bin.
According to a yet further aspect of the invention, an image forming apparatus comprises a receiving unit for receiving a print job, multiple bins for receiving paper printed based on the received print job, each of the multiple bins being assigned a specific user, a detecting unit for detecting whether or not there is any paper in each bin, a deciding unit for deciding whether or not, when there is paper in every bin, the destination of the paper existing in each bin is the same as the destination of the received print job, and a sending unit, if the destination of the paper existing in each bin is not the same as the destination of the received print job, for sending a warning to the destination of the paper existing in each bin.
According to a yet further aspect of the invention, a method for controlling an image forming apparatus having multiple bins for receiving paper printed based on a received print job, each of the multiple bins being assigned a specific user, comprises the steps of receiving a print job, detecting whether or not there is any paper in each bin, deciding whether or not, when there is paper in every bin, the destination of the paper existing in each bin is the same as the destination of the received print job, and sending, if the destination of the paper existing in each bin is not the same as the destination of the received print job, a warning to the destination of the paper existing in each bin.